NPS Board Member biographies NPS Board Members

Dr Janette Randall

Janette is a general practitioner in Brisbane. She has worked in general practice on a full and part-time basis since 1994, obtaining her General Practice Fellowship in 1996. She has a special interest in mental health issues, and has undertaken additional training in this area.

Janette has been significantly involved in the Divisions of General Practice Program since 1997, having held various roles with her local Division of General Practice in Queensland. For since years she was a board member of the state based representative body for Divisions in Queensland, retiring in October 2006.

Janette was appointed to the NPS Board in May 2006 as a GP class Director and held the position of NPS Audit Committee Chair until October 2007. Janette has been Chair of the NPS Board since August 2007.

Mr Russell Edwards

Russell's career in the pharmaceutical industry spans over 36 years. In 1991 he founded the Australian branch of the biotechnology company, Amgen, and was its managing director for 15 years.

As a former board member of Medicines Australia, he sponsored the establishment of guidelines for relationships between consumer health organisations and the pharmaceutical industry and currently chairs the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee. In 2005 he founded Medicines Australia's Biotechnology Group (MABIG). More recently, he has been Vice-President External Affairs at Amgen.

Russell has an understanding of issues in the public and private health sectors and the National Medicines Policy. He is regarded as an opinion leader in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the field of biotechnology.

Russell is Chair of the NPS Audit Committee and was previously a board representative of the Medicines Industry Liaison and RADAR Editorial Groups.

Dr Graeme Killer

Graeme is Principal Medical Adviser to the Repatriation Commission. Trained as an occupational physician, he served for 23 years in the Royal Australian Air Force, including postings to Malaysia and the UK. He served in Malaysia during the Vietnam War and was involved in aeronautical evacuation. On retiring from full-time Defence service in 1990, he was appointed Director of Environment Health for the Australian Defence Force.

He has been Principal Medical Adviser to the Department of Veterans' Affairs and has taken a leading role in departmental quality use of medicines initiatives. Graeme is a Member of the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Reference Committee and Chair of the Editorial Committee and Consumer Reference Group for the Veterans' Medicines Advice and Therapeutic Education Services Program. He pioneered the introduction of care planning and preventive annual health assessments for older Australians and initiated the Health Links Program between the Departments of Defence and Veterans' Affairs.

His extensive healthcare interests include occupational and public health and aged care. He maintains part-time clinical practice and was personal physician to Prime Ministers Keating and Howard, and has a similar role with Government House, Canberra. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1999 for service to the veteran community.

Graeme is a member of the NPS Board Governance and Nomination Committee.

Dr Andrew Knight

Andrew works in full time general practice in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. He has worked as a medical educator in the Australian General Practice Training Program and as director of training for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and WentWest. He continues to train GP registrars within his practice.

Andrew is a clinical senior lecturer in general practice at the Western Clinical School of the University of Sydney. He is the chair of the Expert Reference Panel on Access for the Australian Primary Care Collaborative and on the Board of the Blue Mountains GP Network.

Andrew's academic interests and areas of publication include: quality improvement in general practice; medical education; and the role of general practitioners in the care of patients with rare diseases.

Andrew is a member of the NPS Audit Committee.

Dr James Langridge

Jim’s career over the past 30 years has been in higher education administration, specialising for over 20 years in international education, entrepreneurship in higher education and business management.

Until early 2009, he held the joint appointments of vice principal (international) at the University of Wollongong (UOW) and CEO/managing director of the ITC group of companies (UOW’s commercial arm).

Jim brings to the NPS Board experience gained from directorships of organisations in the private education sector, entrepreneurial start-up companies and those involved in regional and economic development. His experience in offshore markets is diverse, in particular in the Middle East, South Asia and North America.

His qualifications include a doctorate from the University of Southhampton on the topic ‘Entrepreneurship in higher education’. He was awarded a fellowship of the UOW in recognition of his contribution to international higher education and is also a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Jim is a member of the NPS Audit Committee.

Dr Winston Liauw

Winston is a practicing medical oncologist and clinical pharmacologist with a master's degree in pharmaceutical development. His clinical practice is based around gastrointestinal cancer with a speciality in regional and intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

His research is based in cancer pharmaceutical development and he is currently a principal or co-investigator on numerous industry and investigator initiated clinical trials, including phase 1 research. In this capacity, Winston has provided consulting services for the biotechnology industry and contract research organisations.

He has been heavily involved in research ethics and regulation and is deputy chair of the Shared Scientific Assessment Scheme Core Committee and the Cancer Institute NSW Human Research Ethics Committee (Clinical Trials).

Winston has published the results of clinical trials, cancer outcomes research, clinical trial conduct, the pharmacology of alternative medicines and surgical and locoregional therapies for cancer. His other interests include medical education, eHealth, supportive care and pharmacogenetics.

Winston is a member of both the Pharmaceutical Decision Support Advisory Group and the NPS Board Governance and Nomination Committee.

Dr Christopher Mitchell

Chris is a rural GP on the NSW North Coast.  He is a member of the NPS Board and Audit Committee. 

Chris is a clinical professor with the University of Wollongong and immediate past President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). Chris leads the Change and Adoption team at NEHTA and is also represented on the boards of the Therapeutic Guidelines Limited, RACGP Oxygen and Northern Rivers GP Network.

Chris is a member of the World Organisation of Family Doctors Asia Pacific Executive and holds a Fellowship with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ms Kate Moore

Kate has had a long career working on consumer health projects. As a consultant, she has worked on projects such as the assessment of the Quality of Care Reports, published by Public Health Services in Victoria and as a special adviser to the Healthcare Management Advisors' Project that reviewed the Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee.

Kate has a background in health policy and consumer advocacy and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Health Care Consumers' Association of the ACT and Chair of its Policy Sub-Committee, and a member of several other committees.

Kate is the Chair of the NPS Board Governance and Nomination Committee and represents the Board on the Diagnostics Expert Advisory Panel. Kate had also previously represented the board on both the Consumer Advisory Group and Prescribing Intervention Advisory Group.

Dr Kay Price

Kay is Associate Professor at the School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of South Australia. She was a member of the Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Council and was an active participant on APAC's working parties including the Complementary Medicines Working Party, Brand Substitution Working Party and CMI Working Party.

Kay is an experienced and active qualitative researcher and a past recipient of a Pharmaceutical Health and Rational Use of Medicines project grant and has been successful in National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council nationally funded research projects. Her specific expertise is critical analytical skills, analysis of health care and education services, working in collaboration across different groups, and managing complexity. Kay is a Chief Investigator on the North West Adelaide Health (Cohort) Study (NWAHS) a longitudinal, representative population biomedical cohort study established to examine chronic diseases and lifestyle risk factors.

Kay is a member of NPS Board Governance and Nomination Committee and represents the Board on the Program Evaluation and Research Development Advisory Group. Kay was previously a member of the Educational Design and Support Advisory Group and RADAR Editorial Group.

Ms Debbie Rigby

Debbie is a consultant clinical pharmacist practicing in Brisbane. She is an internationally recognised certified geriatric pharmacist, having a special interest in geriatric pharmacotherapy, and regularly conducts medication review services and presentations to pharmacists, nurses, allied health professionals and consumers.

Debbie is a former Director of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA). She is currently Vice-President of the PSA QLD Committee, Director of the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy (AACP) and member of the National Advisory Group of AACP. Debbie is also a Fellow of American Society of Consultant Pharmacists and an adjunct senior lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland.

Debbie's work is award-winning, earning her an Amrad Pharmacy Specialisation Grant by Society of Hospital PharmacistS of Australia in 1999, the PSA Australian Pharmacist of the Year in 2001, the PSA Qld Bowl of Hygeia in 2002, and the inaugural Consultant Pharmacist Award for 2008.

Debbie is a member of the NPS Audit Committee and represents the NPS Board on both the Pharmaceutical Decision Support and the Medicines Line Advisory Groups. Debbie had previously represented the Board on the Consumer Advisory Group and the Educational Design and Support Expert Advisory Group.

Dr Christine Walker

Christine is CEO of the Chronic Illness Alliance Inc, a peak body representing more than fifty consumer and advocacy organisations for people with chronic illness. The Alliance works with a number of other organisations and consults with consumers and consumer groups to build a better focus in health policy and health services for all people with chronic illness.

In 1995, Christine completed a Ph D thesis exploring the growth of government intervention in the hospital system in Victoria. She has experience in qualitative research and has published a book on chronic illness as well as many journal articles. Her two most recent edited books are on social issues in epilepsy.

Christine is a member of the Committee of Management of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria, President of Epilepsy Australia, and on the Advisory Group of the UNSW Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity.

Christine is a member of NPS’s Diagnostics Expert Advisory Panel.